The Chicktionary
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LENA CHEN is a Boston-based freelance writer and the author of the blog Sex and the Ivy. Currently completing a sociology degree at Harvard University, she writes about sex, dating, lifestyle, and food for a variety of online and print publications, including The Boston Globe Magazine, Hustler, Beauty Launchpad, CollegeHumor, and luxury e-zine Juli B. This fall, she pens a regular column in Fifteen Minutes, The Harvard Crimson’s weekend magazine, blogs for Sex Really, a project of the National Campaign To Prevent Teen & Unplanned Pregnancy, and co-authors an educational series about sex products in The Harvard Voice with MIT sex columnist Christine Yu.
In August 2006, she started writing Sex and the Ivy as a college sophomore. Her first-person accounts of sexual experiences, alienation, and the true state of undergraduate life at the world’s premier academic institution spurred campus discussion, prompted media attention, and garnered a loyal following. Quickly becoming a controversial figure, she has been criticized by some as “morally reprehensible” and praised by others for encouraging frank sexual dialogue. With a daily readership of 2,000, Lena has been featured in local and national media outlets, including The New York Times, Newsweek, The Boston Globe, and Salon.
Lena currently manages online editorial content for a college admissions non-profit (and previously served as founding editor of College OTR, a news and entertainment blog network). She has written sex and relationship columns for CollegeCandy, covered the Boston dining scene as a Grub Street party reporter, and shared culinary adventures on Citysearch’s 3 Buck Bites and Sugar Bomber. Her new blog, The Chicktionary, is a chronicle of her daily life and likes, as well as all things feminist, queer, or otherwise radical. She lives in the Back Bay.
Her full portfolio is available on LenaChen.com.
October 26th, 2006 at 2:35 pm
I don’t think Meg will ever top her performance in When Harry Met Sally.
December 13th, 2006 at 10:34 am
The Affirmative Action / Asian American connection–are you investigating it from a Jerome Karabel type perspective, looking for evidence of Jian Li type stuff? Sounds very interesting!
January 16th, 2007 at 7:15 pm
wow, great stuff. who would have thunk it! thanks for your blog, sexy stuff
January 18th, 2007 at 1:10 am
I wish I were that “fugly”. You’re cute as a freaking button, and a jewel.
January 22nd, 2007 at 10:43 pm
Wow, I’ve been reading your site for the past few weeks and I’m hooked. I can’t tell if it’s just your hotness, the great writing and personal insight, that mirrors some of my own tendencies, or a mixture of both. I can’t wait to read more, ignore the “haters” and keep doing a great job. You rock. Holla!
January 28th, 2007 at 5:34 pm
Elle,
You’re an amazing writer. If Cosmo rejects you, tell them to eat it. I am totally addicted to your blog and I can relate to a lot of this stuff– keep up the fabulous work, you’ve got a fan at Cornell :)
Jenna
January 31st, 2007 at 12:52 pm
I think you are fabulous. You are welcome to come and titilate the boys of the University of San Francisco anytime you would like….
February 3rd, 2007 at 4:40 pm
You are still going to need one of those “soulless” i-bankers around for your other social and material pleasures - I know some, I’ll hook you up.
February 5th, 2007 at 7:31 pm
Elle,
You are an awesome writer, and very pretty as well. Feel free to come to Emery anytime. ~.’
XX,
Lauren
February 12th, 2007 at 7:45 pm
You’re a great writer, and you manage to infuse humor and a dose of reality into everything you write, which is not an easy task. If you’re looking for any f-buddies up here at Dartmouth, I’m your man.
February 16th, 2007 at 11:25 am
Oh my God, I think I love you!!! I would show my boyfriend who goes to MIT your blog, but I think he’ll be over to Harvard in a flash!
February 17th, 2007 at 2:48 am
Your blog is very interesting. I saw you on the news and thats how I came to see your website. You are very talented and can write your ass off. Oh….and you are a very fine looking woman. Keep up the great stuff. Life is good. You are awesome.
February 19th, 2007 at 12:40 pm
Rock on… I hate when people say that, but really- keep writing, dreaming, and f*cking because it makes for a great read. :)
April 18th, 2007 at 3:53 pm
Hi! I heard you on the Sirius Playboy channel and that’s why I visited. I thought you were intelligent, well spoken and open-minded. Life is short so live it like you woun’t be here long.
April 29th, 2007 at 6:26 pm
I was recommended by one of your school mates as something I’d enjoy. “Surprisingly well-written” was what she said.
I’m not sure why she was surprised.
I do find it to be quite fun
May 6th, 2007 at 8:04 pm
My blog (and life) are painfully less exciting that yours. So I love this stuff! And I am proud to have known you when you were a cute 16 yr. old in your first internship in Hollywood.
Both then, and now, you rock(ed)!
eMCee
May 16th, 2007 at 11:51 am
Lena, you are an embarassment to your family and to all Asians. As it is, Asian women have a very difficult and hard stereotype they need to overcome if they want to be a successful career woman who are taken seriously. shame on you.
I can understand why you would be so easy with your body. if i had that face, i would give it away to anyone who would take it simply because it provides me with a false sense of acceptance and respect.
Please understand that just because a guy will have sex with you does not mean they will take you home to Mother.
By the way, love the eye lift.
May 25th, 2007 at 9:44 pm
:) read you blog .
from TAIWAN
June 22nd, 2007 at 12:16 am
Um. Right, sam. You know,she said she wants to be a single mother, so she doesn’t need to take anyone home to “Mother.”
And frankly, you’re full of shit if you think guys wouldn’t be interested in having long term nd I certainly wouldn’t acceptrelationships with Lena, if that’s what she wants. I have lots of random sex too, but that hasn’t stopped the marriage proposals.
Not that I’ve accepted any.
Oh, and it might interest you to know that the stereotype is that Chinese girls don’t put out- so if anything she’s BREAKING stereotypes ^_^
July 11th, 2007 at 11:28 pm
åŠ æ²¹ã€‚
December 10th, 2007 at 10:20 am
I linked to your site off one of my Harvard friends Facebooks … it’s interesting :) you’re a good writer as well.
December 11th, 2007 at 9:59 pm
Lena:
2 words: you’re hot!
Rock the world.
December 12th, 2007 at 12:55 am
I happened to come upon your blog while looking at House of Procrastination while I was, well, procrastinating studying for finals! I don’t feel so bad about all my short-lived sexual experiences with guys across my campus; I finally have someone whose encounters I can relate to!
(Not that it’s something for me to boast about.) Without your writing I would be on wasting time on facebook! Your site has now been added on my desktop favorites. I look forward to reading more! : )
I think I’ll introduce this website to my fellow friends at Whittier College…
February 18th, 2008 at 6:36 am
you so hot
February 20th, 2008 at 4:08 am
haha
March 23rd, 2008 at 4:49 pm
good stuff, congrats Lena!
March 30th, 2008 at 3:35 am
[...] more about her from her blog, “Sex and the Ivy,“and discovered that she was “Born in San Francisco and raised in Los Angeles, Lena is a third-year B.A. candidate in sociology…A first generation Chinese-American…” For some reason, I was not terribly surprised [...]
April 12th, 2008 at 2:42 am
hey, you’re awesome! having grown up with similarly cantonese parents on the west coast, I deeply appreciate that someone out there has the guts to just BE. Well done on all counts. I’ll keep an eye on this although I’m also impressed that you no longer feel chained to it. If it happens it happens, if not, I’m glad it did. (and it was an extra treat to find a blog that properly used ‘toe the line.’)
August 20th, 2008 at 8:42 pm
Well, I had no idea that you write so much Lena. We should talk more often.
August 26th, 2008 at 10:12 am
[...] 25, 2008 · No Comments Now, Ms. Chen has made her blogging career, if we can call it such, from a number of factors: her status as a [...]
November 4th, 2008 at 10:44 am
you???was serious damage
November 7th, 2008 at 1:40 am
just so so
January 14th, 2009 at 11:35 pm
what is that one tv show?…the one with the extremely old woman..who talks about sex and answers sex questions…i just can’t remember the name.. but anyway, she reminds me of you. keep up the good work :]
January 15th, 2009 at 3:06 am
Dr. Ruth!
January 19th, 2009 at 6:29 am
Your site was blocked under “Porn” category in school,browsed it using Proxy :P
February 26th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
-Speaking of elitist and abstinence, I heard there’s an abstinence club at Harvard.
-Yea.. what it’s called?
-The student body….
Jon Stewart, The Daily Show
April 18th, 2009 at 11:49 pm
I think you are a very talented writer and courageous and honest lady! I really respect that about you!
May 10th, 2009 at 8:16 pm
Great stuff! Thanks for your insightful blogs. I have had my share of experiences. I wish I had to nerve to blog about them!
May 27th, 2009 at 11:53 am
Your entertaining escapades take on a totally different take once you have a daughter at one of these fine Ive League institutions. I love reading about these things, but, as a single mom, I am way too timid to actually go out and try them.I have taken a big step to try to meet singles…I have started to post information on any dating sites out there in hopes of meeting the right person. The latest one I have posted on is a http://www.facestoremember.com. Hope it helps me get out of my shell.
June 8th, 2009 at 10:54 pm
[...] here or pick up a hard copy if you just happen to be passing through Bellingham), and bringing Lena Chen (who I generally can’t stop talking about, online or elsewhere…) to speak on campus! I [...]
June 23rd, 2009 at 2:42 pm
Ms. Chen,
As an older Asian male, I’m more perplexed as I’m getting on with the years, and, if I had a daughter much like you, I will be challenged. But that’s all good. One needs to be challenged in this brave new world so that Life doesn’t turn into another spectator sport to us old men. Bravo, young lady. Live like it’s your world, for it is…
September 25th, 2009 at 10:23 am
Three cheers to you, Lena! I was raised in a strict home and went to college clueless and shy. I wish I had had your blog to read back then - it would have changed my college experience and made me much more comfortable with how natural and normal sex is - and made me feel like I wasn’t the only one going through it. You’re helping a generation of young women out there.
September 27th, 2009 at 8:37 am
Congratulations! You are so lucky and talented.
September 29th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
What an amazing blog! I wish that I could write like you. I think that the critics are just jealous because they don’t have the drive to go do amazing things. Keep it up. xoxoxoxxo
October 31st, 2009 at 8:05 pm
Hey Lena,
I’ve been reading your blog… don’t listen to the detractors. You’re cool, honest, principled, brave, beautiful, a great writer, and most importantly - fun! A lot more fun than some of these haters. I wish you great things.
-A reader
November 19th, 2009 at 10:27 pm
You rock Lena! Writing is not everybody’s cup of tea. You got that extra talent and you use it for best by writing such great post! Keep Writing!!!